


The Fire Watches - Devasena

by arpita



Series: Agni Parva [5]
Category: Baahubali (Movies)
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-14
Updated: 2019-06-14
Packaged: 2020-04-22 23:24:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19138930
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arpita/pseuds/arpita
Summary: Devasena stands in front of Bhallaladeva after he burns Kuntala to ashes.





	The Fire Watches - Devasena

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MayavanavihariniHarini](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MayavanavihariniHarini/gifts).



_It isn't without cause that I'm alive,_ she silently soliloquises. 

Bhalla's acrimonious laughter scorched her ears once more.

"Your Kuntala has burnt, Devasena!" He proclaimed victoriously. " _Burnt_ like a forest in a wildfire, never to resurrect!" 

_Killing defenceless people is no conquest, you fool_ , she castigated him, even as she angrily eyed the tyrant. Her eyes speak her mind as Bhallaladeva stops laughing.

A moment of disorientation quickly gathers itself into resuming his previous gait, while he nears his tethered prisoner, the honourable wife of the revered Amarendra Baahubali, Maahishmati's King in spirit.

'Such fire,' he mocked her yet again, 'Baahu must have fallen for these fiery eyes.' 

'Do not utter his name.' Devasena deadpanned. 

Bhalla laughs yet again, at her audacity. The woman's indomitable spirit would have given his mother a tough competition.

'Your _husband,_ '- he resumes his mockery, - 'lies in the scorching embrace of Agnishwara, and that mite you bore,' - Devasena's breath hitches at the mention of her long-lost baby, - 'lies ensconced somewhere in the depths of The River Goddess, in the my mother's company.'

 _How easily he gloated on the attempt he made on his mother's life!_ , Devasena thought, disgusted by the tyrant's pride in his murderous, deceitful, ventures.

"Agnishwara has been merciful, Devasena.' he gloated further, - 'To keep watch on me, and to ensure that I hand his miscreants over to him, when need be. After all,'- he spreads both hands as he looks at the Lord burning away atop the Agnikunda, -'what am I but his instrument?!' 

He smirks, yet again into her eyes.

The Fire Lord kept watch on the Kingdom on the behest of a ruler, Nila, as He fell for the beautiful Princess, his daughter. Amarendra had told her of the Legend where a besotted Agnishwara had taken the guise of a Brahmana only so he could stay close to the object of his affection. When the ruse was caught, the King first accosted The Lord, after which a reconciliation followed, leading to Him being the Watchkeeper of Maahishmati.

 

'Agnishwara watches over the Ruler of Maahishmati, Bhallaladeva.' Devasena looks straight into his eyes. 'And the Ruler shall come when it is time.' 

Bhalla fumes as she leaves with Spartan Haughtiness, even as she was chained. He wondered how The Lord kept her spirits alive.

Later, Devasena collects a few twigs and puts them in a huge basin. Barely noticeable, the twigs soundlessly fall in a dry clump in a corner therein.

 _Little did anyone know, that they were her first offerings to The Lord, who was only waiting as He gathered momentum, till the right time, while He kept His Divine Watch_.


End file.
